12/27/2014
Finnish Santa's name is Joulupukki, ‘The Yule Goat’ (or ‘Buck’, in Old English, Bucca). Joulupukki developed from Pagan traditions where his predecessor was a creature called Nuuttipukki, ‘Knut’s Goat’, which referred to St Knut’s day, originally on 7th of January and still carries both twigs and gifts. The Yule Goats is that the celebration of the goat is in connection to the Norse god Thor, who rode the sky in a chariot drawn by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. It is also known that in old agricultural Scandinavia, one of the the last sheaf of corn bundled in the harvest was credited with magical properties as the spirit of the harvest and saved for the
Yule celebrations, called among other things 'julbocken' (the Yule Goat).
In Sweden, people thought of the Yule Goat as an invisible spirit that would appear some time before Christmas to make sure that the Yule preparations were done right. Objects made out of straw or
roughly-hewn wood could also be called the Yule Goat, and in older Scandinavian society a popular Christmas prank was to place this Yule Goat in a neighbour's house without them noticing; the family successfully pranked had to get rid of it in the same way. During the 19th century the Yule Goat's role all over Scandinavia shifted towards becoming the giver of Christmas gifts, with one of the men in the family dressing up as the Yule Goat.
The goat was then replaced by the jultomte or julenisse at the end of the century, although he is still called the Yule Goat (Joulupukki)
in Finland, and the tradition of the man-sized goat disappeared. 'Tjugondag Knut' - St. Knut's Day - is a traditional festival celebrated in Sweden and Finland on January 13th. It is not celebrated in Denmark. On Tjugondag jul, there has been a tradition a bit analogous to modern Santa Claus, where men dressed as a
goat (Finnish: Nuuttipukki) would visit houses. Unlike Santa Claus, Nuuttipukki was a scary character (cf. Krampus). The men dressed as Nuuttipukki wandered from house to house, came in, and typically demanded household residents for food and especially
alcoholic beverages. In Finland the Nuuttipukki tradition is still living at areas of Satakunta, Finland Proper and Ostrobothnia. However, nowadays the character is usually played by children and now involves a happy encounter.
via nordic thoughts
